I’m in a classroom filled with MBA students, all trying to understand intuition and strategy. An odd subject for a class but one which I’m finding very rewarding. My lesson so far? Don’t be afraid of trying new things. Try them, evaluate them, learn from them and then adjust your plan.
Too many times we get stuck on some fancy plan, some grand idea for how we’re going to change our lives. We spend hours and days and weeks and months coming up with plans, projects and time lines, all of which are supposed to tell us exactly how we’re going to get from point A (right now) to point B (where we would like to be when our big goals are accomplished). Those grand plans are nice but almost impossible to implement in total. It’s just not possible to foresee everything that could happen, every obstacle that might come up, every new idea and new method you’ll learn along the way.
Instead, it’s far better to just try something new. One or two little things perhaps. Try them out, feel your way through them, pay attention to how they make you feel and act and then go from there. Stop putting together five year plans and start putting together five week plans. Actually, let me correct that. Put together some high level 5 year goals and plans, but don’t be afraid of changing midway through. Don’t be afraid of changing course.
Read all you can, learn all you can, form an idea and jump in. Then figure out if this idea is working or not. See what the results are. Is this new idea contributing to your progress towards the 5 year goal? What are some new things that this idea is making you think of? What are some new ideas this suggested to you? Adjust, modify, adapt and come up with something new. Now jump right back in. Keep doing that over and over and don’t be afraid of changing your 5 year plans and goals if along the way you come up with something better.
Big goals are great, but it’s important to note that writing down “I’m going to be healthy and fit in five years” is meaningless unless you do all the little stuff needed to get you there. That little stuff cannot be planned out 5 years ahead. It must be lived through one day, week and month at a time.
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If you’re interested in more on this “strategic intuition”, pick up a book called Napoleon’s Glance: The Secret of Strategy (Nation Books)
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I agree with this wholeheartedly. I’ve found that the big goals are easier to achieve if there are a bunch of little parts to it. Every time you get a little goal done you’re closer to the big one. And if one of the little goals fails or needs tuning, it is much easier to handle than failing or changing the big one. Plus you get the bonus of succeeding often and feeling good about that little success!